The Art of the Audio Essay
PWR 2 Fall Quarter 2007
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford University

Two Successful Research Proposals (from The Rhetoric of Modernism, 2004)
written by students in a PWR 1 course

Research Proposal
Jackie Goldman

Issue: I intend to explore the prairie houses of Frank Lloyd Wright and the synthesis oil paintings of Cezanne in the late 19th century. Within each of these periods or styles, I will examine the methods that both modernists used to create a feeling of unity, solidity, plasticity and harmony. I find this line of questioning useful to pursue, because I am fascinated how two seemingly dissimilar modernists, one an American architect and the other a French painter, can employ different techniques to create the same effect within their works. After viewing both works, one feels the same sensation of entirety and harmony and I would like to explore how they create these cohesive works of art. While some may argue that the effect is a result of the subjects of each work of art, namely nature, I plan to look at the techniques each modernist employs instead of the focus of their art. Thus, the question that I plan to answer in my paper is, what is the relationship between the achievement of the unifying and harmonious effect of Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie houses and Cezanne’s accomplishment of organized and cohesive oil paintings of the 19th century?

Position: With Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie houses, I plan to focus on the main techniques which he employs to unify the houses with their surrounding natural environment. One of these methods is the use of plants and indigenous materials on the exterior of the houses to help mediate between the house and its natural setting. Others include the use of natural color schemes in the interior and exterior, creation of a large degree of open space through elimination of barriers such as doors and additions of screens which allow air to flow, and sweeping horizontal lines which are low to the ground which allow the house to blend with its surroundings and become an extension of the ground on which it is situated. Similarly, with Cezanne I will explore his technique of unifying, harmonizing, stabilizing and solidifying his work and creating a masterpiece which is undivided and more a complete work instead of a cluster of parts. In his works I will explore his style in which he uses his placement of brushstrokes, both parallel and symmetrical, his coordination of colors which seem to blend together to become single harmonious shades and his principles of construction which he uses to bring the foreground and background to the same level. I feel compelled to argue about this connection between Cezanne and Frank Lloyd Wright, because I am interested in how the same effect can be created in such different kinds of art, mainly architecture and oil paintings.

Research Strategy: At this point in my research I have found numerous books describing Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie houses and the techniques he used to integrate them to the surrounding environment. Both Green and the Art library have been helpful in introducing me to his methods and even representative houses which reveal the prairie style such as the Willits House. My research concerning Cezanne and his style has been a little more difficult. All the books and articles I have found concerning his oil paintings and his synthesis period have been unfocused and do not seem to concentrate solely on the period. In fact, all the books I have found move from painting to painting, never explicitly stating when his style changed. I have searched a few databases at the Stanford Library, including the art abstracts and the Grove Dictionary of Art. The Grove Dictionary was useful in helping me narrow the time period on which I am focusing for Cezanne’s art, but it gives only a very broad perspective on Cezanne’s style. At this point, I am just looking for one or two more books or articles which provide specific information on Cezanne’s style of unifying his paintings, but other than that I feel that I have finished searching for material on my topic.

Significance: I find my topic controversial because how can two entirely different forms of art create the same sensation within a viewer. Cezanne’s paintings seem to mimic the effects of Wright’s prairie houses and yet both artists use different means of expressing this impression. I find it fascinating that the effect of an architect who is trying to unify his house within the nature that surrounds it can produce the same harmony as a French painter working at a different time who is trying to create a solidity and unison within his actual work. How a building and an oil painting can create this equivalent effect is both mysterious and interesting and that is why I chose to research and explore this topic. The theme of this course is to explore how seemingly different types of art display similar effects, and thus this is what I am trying to discover.


Research Proposal
Sabine Tsuruda

Issue: Cubism is an artistic movement originating in the early 1900’s that seeks to show its subject no from just one angle, but from many angles simultaneously, in order to capture the subject’s essence in its entirety. In terms of cubist literature, or cubist poetry, the terms themselves have been surrounded by controversy since their coinage. However, more recently, critics have suggested that the poetry of E.E. Cummings belongs in the cubist category, yet merely because of the visual structure Cummings employs. Thus the issue at hand is whether or not the poetry of E.E. Cummings mirror the tactics and  by methodologies employed in cubist art. Furthermore, in addition to visual structural similarities, is there a similarity between Cubism and Cummings’ use of multiple points of view and voices in his poetry? Does the connection go beyond the unconventional spacing and line breaks in Cummings’ poetry?

Position: Critics of Cummings’ poetry have perhaps overlooked the subtleties of his verse; in addition to the poet’s complex visual structure, Cummings verse often contains several  simultaneous voices, and as a result, like his cubist contemporaries, is able to portray his subject from many points of view at once to capture the subject’s depth and meaning entirely. Thus, through an examination and comparison between two of Cummings’ poems and two of Picasso’s paintings, I will argue that Cummings’ poetry is in fact cubist poetry for reasons far beyond unconventional line breaks and spacing.

Research Strategy: At this moment, I have in my possession 12 books from Green Library on topics ranging from pictures of the artwork of Braque and Picasso, to biographies on E.E Cummings. So far in my research, I have found a connection between the cubist painters visual representation of their subjects and Cummings’ poetry. A problem I may encounter is dealing with the past works exploring this connection, and making sure I do not simply reiterate their arguments. So far I have found that critics simply find a connection between cubism and Cummings in visual structure, and as stated above, my final argument will seek to debunk these theories and reveal that the connection is a deeper one. In order to make my argument conclusive, I will need to find more critics’ views on this subject, while finding biographies that outline what Cummings thinks about his poetry (and his creative process) in addition to what critics think. As a result, Art Abstract and Literature databases, along with web sites carrying poetic criticism,  are relevant areas to explore during my research.

Significance: The question my research seeks to answer (see “issue”) will ultimately attempt to give legitimacy to the controversial term cubist poetry. While some critics and artists, even Picasso himself, deny the connection between cubist art and certain forms of poetry, my research will prove that this is in fact false through an examination of the methods of E.E. Cummings and Picasso, concluding that Cummings’ poetry is in fact the poetic manifestation of cubist painting. Furthermore, another more general, overarching issue at stake that will be explored in my research is the connection between art and literature, how visual techniques can in fact be very similar to the grammatical, that there is an intrinsic connection between art and literature created during the same time period.